“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years
he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.” Judges 6:1
In Judges 4-5 God tells us how He used Deborah, Barak and Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, to lead Israel to defeat the Canaanites who had enslaved Israel in their own land. After God gave great victories to Israel they experiences 40 years of peace in the land. Things were once again good for those who followed the Lord.
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord It only took 4 decades of peace, prosperity and complacency in the land for God’s
people to forget Him. God’s people grew complacent toward God and His Word; they now live in peaceful coexistence with the Canaanites and and soon begin to admire and embrace their beliefs and practices.
Did evil The word evil is the same used in Genesis 2:9 of the Tree of
Good and Evil. What Adam and Eve unleashed on all mankind now
reaches a zenith in Israel. The word evil means malignant, disagreeable and unpleasing to the sight. It is what brings pain and misery; it is what God warns us against (for our own good!) but what Israel began to love.
In the Sight of the Lord God told Adam and Eve their eyes would be open to evil. Here we see that God’s eyes are open to the evil of His people, their actions are seen by Him. Just as God sees one’s faithfulness (“Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord”), He also sees the true state of one’s heart. God chooses not to list Israel’s sins here. We read of them in previous chapters. They forgot God, turned their backs on Him, kept up the rituals but left their love for the Lord, then intermarried with the evil nations around them and finally adopted evil practices as their own.
Of the Lord God uses the name “YHWH” or Jehovah, the proper name of the God of Israel. This is the One who called them and delivered them out of Egypt, who brought them into the land He had promised – this is the covenant keeping God of Israel. The people of Israel may have some appreciation for God in their hearts but they have forgotten who He was – they no longer “fear Him”. (Does that sound like the church today?)
For seven years God brings His hand of discipline on His people. Today God is chastised for allowing bad things to happen to people, especially those who “are good people”. Yet here we see God act in great mercy. He will not let his people go further into sin; He intervenes in His mercy to show His people the consequences of their rebellion and to draw them back to Him. The length of time Israel was under God’s hand of discipline varied in the book of Judges from 6 years to 40 years. God only does what is necessary to to their sinful condition.
He gave them into Scripture is clear. God is the one who disciplines His people. The word gave is first used in creation when God “set” or “put” the stars in the firmament. Just as God carefully placed each star in its exact location so does He carefully bring into believer’s lives situations designed to mold us into His image. He tests our faith to grow it and make it stronger and He intervenes with correction when we err from His path. How long it takes us to respond is our responsibility. It is an amazing thought that the people of God can so forget who God is that they leave Him for four decades and never think about Him until their punishment becomes too much to bear. The sad truth is that same obliviousness happens over and over today as God’s children take the One who delivered them from their captivity for granted.
Hands of the Midianites Here we learn how God delivers His punishment to the people. He used a neighboring people who were
related to Israel to chastise them. Midian was the son of Abraham and Keturah, one of Abraham’s concubines. The Midianites were a nomadic people who lived in the land God had given Israel. Midian was an enemy of Israel. They conspired with Moab to hire Balaam to curse and destroy Israel. It was through the Midianites that Balaam tempted Israel into sexual sin which caused God to send a plague of discipline upon the nation. One of the Lord’s final instructions to Moses was “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites” (Numbers 31:1). Now Midian is the vehicle God uses to send “leanness to the hearts” of His people. His people wanted to love and serve idols of the god of this world so the Lord gave them the desires of their hearts. He would let discover first hand what kind of master he really was.